A question about the word 江山 and the sentence 我们就一次定江山吧。
I was just watching an English language problem with Chinese subtitles. The English sentence was as follows; let's settle this once and for all, and the Chinese Translation was 我们就一次定江山吧。

Obviously I get what it means because I heard the English version, but I do not understand the Chinese translation at all. The only translation I can find for 江山 is rivers and mountains / landscape / country, so I do not understand why it is used here. Please can you explain it for me.

Thank you.

Question

A question about the word 江山 and the sentence 我们就一次定江山吧。
I was just watching an English language problem with Chinese subtitles. The English sentence was as follows; let's settle this once and for all, and the Chinese Translation was 我们就一次定江山吧。

Obviously I get what it means because I heard the English version, but I do not understand the Chinese translation at all. The only translation I can find for 江山 is rivers and mountains / landscape / country, so I do not understand why it is used here. Please can you explain it for me.

Thank you.

Answer

Hi,Beth !

That's  a very good question!

It's a Chinese idiom ,江山 from literally means :river and mountain. But actually that's means territory , when Chinese mention it as a slang ,that's has the other  meaning , make a consequence for 1 time,it will not be make again. I will give you some examples as following:
1.既然双方都不服气，那么我们再比最后一次，一次定江山！
2.比赛开始了，因为这次是一次定江山，双方都进入了全力以赴的阶段！
3.这次职业技能大赛，一次定江山，请各位选手严格遵守比赛规则，使出看家的本事来！
4.这次竞标可是一次定江山，所有公司都在展示自己公司的最大优势，也不知道会花落谁家。

Hope that's helpful for you ! Thank you ! 
欢迎大家讨论补充~

Answer

江山是指一个国家的国土和边界。定江山就是确定、确认国家的国土归属或确认国家边界。

Answer

i think 一锤定音wil be more fit.

Answer

I think it probably originated from ancient China when there was a turf war (two kings fought over a territory), and they said to each other "一次定江山", means let's battle once for the territory, then it will be a peaceful place. It‘s just my understanding.

Answer

其实汉语难就难在此，一个本来是这个意思的词语，怎么会变成别的意思了呢？
江山代表威严，不可更改的特性，所以在有的口语中会用来表示约定，承诺的意思，这叫引申义！
希望对你有帮助！